Greece's regulator is set to reject Binance's MiCA license application, sources told Reuters, blocking the exchange's EU gateway weeks before the deadline.
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Binance's plan to use Greece as its European regulatory gateway is falling apart weeks before the bloc's MiCA licensing deadline.
Greece's capital markets regulator is preparing to reject Binance's application for a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation license, Reuters reported June 16, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Without MiCA approval, Binance would lose the legal ability to offer services across the European Union once the framework becomes fully enforceable at the end of June.
The rejection would reverse Binance's earlier push to position Greece as its long-term European base. In January, the exchange confirmed it had established a Greek holding company called Binary Greece and was working with the Hellenic Capital Market Commission on a MiCA application. The company had spent more than 18 months on the licensing process.
"HCMC has given no formal indication of the contrary," a Binance spokesperson told Reuters. The HCMC declined to comment due to confidentiality rules.
The potential rejection could become one of the first major enforcement tests under MiCA. The framework requires crypto firms operating across the EU to secure authorization from at least one member-state regulator before they can passport services throughout the bloc.
France's financial regulator previously warned that firms might use lighter-touch jurisdictions to gain broader EU market access. The European Securities and Markets Authority has pushed for more centralized oversight of crypto firms operating under MiCA.
If Binance loses its Greek application despite its scale and market dominance, the decision could signal that European regulators intend to apply stricter scrutiny to major global exchanges with complex regulatory histories.
Several large firms, including Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, Circle, eToro, and Revolut, have already secured MiCA-related approvals or regulatory positioning inside the bloc. A Binance rejection could strengthen those firms' market share as MiCA transitions Europe toward a more tightly regulated crypto environment.
Binance remains the world's largest crypto trading platform by volume. It has spent the past two years rebuilding relationships with regulators worldwide after facing scrutiny over anti-money laundering controls and compliance practices across multiple jurisdictions.
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